A witness who told ABCNEWS he believed the military was
covering up the extent of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison was today
stripped of his security clearance and told he may face prosecution
because
his comments were "not in the national interest."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/abu_ghraib_cover_up_040521-
1.html
Sgt. Samuel Provance said in addition to his revoked security clearance,
he
was transferred to a different platoon, and his record was officially
"flagged," meaning he cannot be promoted or given any awards or honors.
Provance said he was told he will face administrative action for failing
to
re****t what he knew at the time and for failing to take steps to stop the
abuse.
"I see it as an effort to intimidate Sgt. Provance and any other soldier
whose conscience is bothering him, and who wants to come forward and tell
what really happened at Abu Ghraib," said his attorney Scott Horton.
Provance Alleges Cover-Up
A key witness in the military investigation into prisoner mistreatment at
Abu Ghraib, Provance told ABCNEWS earlier this week that dozens of
soldiers - in addition to the seven military police reservists who have
been
charged - were involved in the abuse at the prison, and he said there is
an
effort under way in the Army to hide it.
"There's definitely a cover-up," Provance said. "People are either telling
themselves or being told to be quiet."
Provance, 30, was part of the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion
stationed at Abu Ghraib last September. He spoke to ABCNEWS despite orders
from his commanders not to.
"What I was surprised at was the silence," said Provance. "The collective
silence by so many people that had to be involved, that had to have seen
something or heard something."
Provance, now stationed in Germany, ran the top-secret computer network
used
by military intelligence at the prison.
He said that while he did not see the actual abuse take place, the
interrogators with whom he worked freely admitted they directed the MPs'
rough treatment of prisoners.
"Anything [the MPs] were to do legally or otherwise, they were to take
those
commands from the interrogators," he said.
Top military officials have claimed the abuse seen in the photos at Abu
Ghraib was limited to a few MPs, but Provance says the ***ual humiliation
of
prisoners began as a technique ordered by the interrogators from military
intelligence.
"One interrogator told me about how commonly the detainees were stripped
****d, and in some occasions, wearing women's underwear," Provance said.
"If
it's your job to strip people ****d, yell at them, scream at them,
humiliate
them, it's not going to be too hard to move from that to another level."
According to Provance, some of the physical abuse that took place at Abu
Ghraib included U.S. soldiers "striking [prisoners] on the neck area
somewhere and the person being knocked out. Then [the soldier] would go to
the next detainee, who would be very fearful and voicing their fear, and
the
MP would calm him down and say, 'We're not going to do that. It's OK.
Everything's fine,' and then do the exact same thing to him."
Provance also described an incident when two drunken interrogators took a
female Iraqi prisoner from her cell in the middle of the night and
stripped
her ****d to the waist. The men were later restrained by another MP.
Pentagon Sanctions Investigation
Maj. Gen. George Fay, the Army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence,
was
assigned by the Pentagon to investigate the role of military intelligence
in
the abuse at the Iraq prison.
Fay started his probe on April 23, but Provance said when Fay interviewed
him, the general seemed interested only in the military police, not the
interrogators, and seemed to discourage him from testifying.
Provance said Fay threatened to take action against him for failing to
re****t what he saw sooner, and the sergeant said he feared he would be
ostracized for speaking out.
"I feel like I'm being punished for being honest," Provance told ABCNEWS
on
Tuesday. "You know, it was almost as if I actually felt if all my
statements
were shredded and I said, like most everybody else, 'I didn't hear
anything,
I didn't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about,' then my
life
would be just fine right now."
In response, Army officials said it is "routine procedure to advise
military
personnel under investigative review" not to comment. The officials said,
however, that Fay and the military were committed to an honest, in-depth
investigation of what happened at the prison.
But Provance believes many involved may not be as forthcoming with
information.
"I would say many people are probably hiding and wi****ng to God that this
storm passes without them having to be investigated [or] personally looked
at," he said.
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